26 THE PRINCIPLES OF FLORICULTURE 



purpose of supplying the retail store with the produce 

 grown in greenhouses. Thus these function as a medium 

 between the producer and the seller. 



The business of selling florists' supplies to retail stores 

 developed in New York City about 1870, when James 

 Hart founded the pioneer wholesale establishment. In 

 1877, Patrick Welch, now president of the Welch Brothers 

 Company, started the house in Boston. Since that time, 

 wholesale houses have developed in many cities in the 

 United States. 



To secure all the information possible regarding the 

 wholesale business in various sections of the United States, 

 letters were sent to many commission men and much 

 valuable information was obtained. The historical review 

 by Patrick Welch of Boston was especially valuable. Mr. 

 Welch writes as follows : " The wholesale dealer in cut- 

 flowers, the middleman, or the commission man, as he is 

 sometimes called, came into favor with growers of cut- 

 flowers during the latter part of the nineteenth century. 

 Many growers then found it inconvenient if not unprofit- 

 able to sell their own products. 



" In Boston, the pioneer house of Welch Brothers opened 

 on October 10, 1877. When this firm started to sell 

 flowers on commission, the outlook for a big business was 

 not very encouraging. For several years, the founder had 

 to be content with the products of two small growers. 

 As the business advanced, however, new and larger green- 

 houses were built, and many men who had been engaged 

 as private gardeners took up commercial work. There 

 then came to be a greater demand for a means by which 

 the products from these ranges might be turned into money, 

 and the wholesale business became quite an important 

 branch of the flower industry. It is to-day the principal 



